Wow. I can’t even believe that a year has passed since I gave birth to my amazing little girl. It makes me cry to think about how fast time has passed, and knowing that the next year will go by just as quickly. I love her so much and seeing her grow up is bittersweet. I love that she is so sweet, smart, and active but the thought that the first year went by so fast and that all of the following years will go by even quicker makes this a very emotional week!
Patrick took off Thursday and Friday so that he could be with us on Samantha’s actual birthday, and so we could go and get family pictures along with her 1 year portraits done the following day.
Samantha’s birthday started off really early. She decided that on her special day she wanted to wake up at 4 am! I snuggled and laid down with her on the couch until 6 when she got up for good and started playing. We all got ready, and even though it snowed the night before and the roads were a little icy we decided to take her to Cracker Barrel for her first big girl breakfast. We had such a great time, and even ordered Sam’s breakfast from the kid’s menu. She drank almost an entire pint of milk, and ate half of a scrambled egg with cheese on top, half of a biscuit, and half of my pancake! Our waiter was really nice and even gathered the rest of the wait staff and sang happy birthday to her. Sam LOVED the attention. We went home and let Sam take a nap while Patrick went to the dentist for a cleaning, then when she got up we had some lunch and picked up her cakes and the rest of the food and drinks that we needed for her party on Saturday. Sam loves shopping so she didn’t mind a trip to the store at all. When we got home we let Sam open her presents from us and played for a while and let her walk around before my parents came over for dinner. We let Sam open her presents from her Granna and Grandpa, then she ate some mashed potatoes and gravy and more importantly her first real sugar!!! Her little smash cake was a hit, and even though it took her a few minutes to really get into it, she loved it! Afterward, we gave her a bath and let my mother cut her first curl (which was starting to look more like a rat tail) in honor of her first birthday.
I don’t think the day could have been more perfect. Patrick and I got to spend the entire day with our sweet girl, and enjoyed every minute of it.
Friday we all went to have Sam’s 1 year old portraits taken. She didn’t nap on the way there, and got really sleepy toward the end, but she didn’t get fussy at all, just a little drowsy eyed. Here are a few of our pictures…
Once we got Sam in bed Patrick and I finished up the video of her first year using some pictures from her actual birthday and some of the new professional pictures too. We made the video to show at Sam’s birthday party, but if you would like to see it we have uploaded the files to youtube and here are the links:
Samantha's First Year 1 of 8 Samantha's First Year 2 of 8
Samantha's First Year 3 of 8 Samantha's First Year 4 of 8
Samantha's First Year 5 of 8 Samantha's First Year 6 of 8
Samantha's First Year 7 of 8 Samantha's First Year 8 of 8
Saturday was Samantha’s first birthday party *tear*! I was so nervous. I was sad and excited about her first birthday, but the party was such a big deal to me. I just wanted it to go perfectly! Patrick and I got the car loaded up, I went and picked up balloons while Sam napped, then when I got back to the house we got Sam ready and headed to our church. The only bad thing that happened was that our church’s heat had gone out the previous week, so the fellowship hall was a bit chilly even with the small heaters turned on full blast, but I think that everyone had dressed for cooler weather so we were all fine. We decorated for a couple of hours with the help of my parents and sisters, and Patrick’s parents, grandmother, and his brother and sister in law. I don’t think we could have pulled this thing off if it hadn’t been for all of their help, so THANK YOU to our family for all of your help with decorating, bringing food, and for cleaning up!!! Sam and Jakob ate snacks and watched Sesame street while we set up, and Mackenzie slept. lol.
The party was PERFECT! We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family. There were 36 people there including ourselves. Everyone enjoyed talking, eating food, and seeing Samantha! She got so many generous gifts, and I don’t know how we fit them all in our living room! The best part of the day though, was when Sam got her Tinkerbell smash cake. On her birthday she just kind of played with it and licked some of the icing off of her fingers, but not on Saturday. At her party she picked up the cake and started sucking the icing off of the cake! It was priceless! It really was the perfect party!
We spent our second Valentines Day as a family together on Monday night. Patrick picked up dinner and we enjoyed it with Sam and shared a roll and some strawberry ice cream with her. We exchanged cards and gifts, and Sam’s hugs made it the perfect valentines day!
Today Samantha had her 1 year checkup. Dr. Meadows said that “she is perfect!”, which is something we already knew, but it’s nice to hear from your pediatrician. Sam now weighs 23lbs 6oz (80%), is 30 3/4 inches long (90%) and her head circumference is 48cm around (off the charts, but following her normal trend). She is doing everything on track, and our pediatrician is very pleased with her eating habits, but does want us to try to get her to drink more often. She got 2 shots, and only cried until her daddy scooped her up, and then she was fine! Such a good, sweet, healthy little girl we have. Tonight I caught some video of her practically running instead of just walking, and was just in awe of how fast she is picking up on things. One day it’s tiny steps, the next she’s running! She is also talking like crazy “mama, dada (or daddy), bye, hey, uh ohh, no no, yay” are the words she says all the time. She started pointing at things that she wants. She is completely weaned to her sippy cup, and has dropped her bed time bottle since she started drinking only whole milk. She loves to close doors, and chases me into the bathroom, just so she can shut us inside. She now has 6 teeth, 4 on top and 2 on bottom. She loves to be read to, and will hand you the same book over and over again until she gets distracted. She is sleeping through the night typically about 12 hours, and still taking 2: 1-2 hour naps a day. She is wearing size 12 months clothes, and size 4 diapers. Oh, and one of my favorite things she does now, is nod. If I say no no, she nods yes. If she likes something, she nods. Whens she hears music, she bounces her butt and she nods. It’s adorable!!!
I guess that is all for now, I hope you enjoy the videos and photos, and will stay tuned for another year of Sammie updates!
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Dear God,
Thank you so much for everything you do for us. Thank you so much for our beautiful, healthy, sweet, happy daughter. Thank you for everything that you have made possible this first year. Thank you for letting her have a wonderful first birthday and party, and for letting us be with her the entire time. Thank you for always taking care of us! Please continue to show your love through her with hugs and smiles and the look that only a child can give us to say everything is ok. Please continue to help Samantha grow and be a healthy little girl, so that she can one day understand the prayers we say every single night to praise your name. Thank you Lord for everything you do for us, our family, our friends, and everyone else in the world.
AMEN
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I can't believe she is 1 either. Looks like you guys had fun and that she had an awesome birthday. Happy Birthday Miss. Sam
ReplyDeleteHappy birthday, Sam!! Love the pics, you guys are such a cute little family!
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